The Petting Zoo

Red and his pals try to solve the problem of animal infestation with another hare-brained idea: a petting zoo.

Cast (in order of appearance):, , , , , , , , ,

DVD: Red Green: Stuffed and Mounted, Vol. 6

Watch the episode on YouTube

DVD Commentary by Steve Smith
{from Stuffed and Mounted}

STEVE SMITH: Sometimes, when you're working with a smaller budget, you have to just go ahead and do something the only way you know how, not the right way. And in the Handyman Corner in this episode, we put skylights into a van, using old aquariums. I mean, the way to do that properly in this scene would be to use {holds up his hands and shapes them like a window} special glass, handy glass, or whatever they call it, that breaks and nobody gets hurt. We couldn't afford handy glass. Luckily, nobody got hurt, and believe me, it was all luck.

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Plot: Various lodge members have discovered wild animals infesting their homes, and Red decides to solve the problem by placing the animals in a petting zoo, to which Harold is naturally opposed, fearing people will get hurt and the lodge will get sued. Sure enough, soon after the petting zoo is open, the lodge runs into so many problems with the animals that they decide to just let them go. They then try out the petting zoo concept with other animals, such as dogs and then horses, including having the lodge members dress up in horse costumes amid real horses, but everything keeps going wrong.

Adventures With Bill: Bill goes to the edge of a cliff to do some bungee-jumping using various pantyhose as the bungee cord.

Red's Campfire Songs: Red does an experiment to see if cold air falls.

The Possum Lodge Word Game: Buzz tries to guess the word "breakfast" to win potatoes, vegetables and a leg of fish from the Longshot Family restaurant.

Handyman Corner: Red installs skylights into Buster Hadfield's van using aquariums as the skylights.

Red's Teen Talk: Red advises teens to spend some of their own money themselves instead of their parents' so that they will receive an enlarged inheritance.

Auto Biography: Dalton talks about his favorite car, a Chevy 2, which his father had bought used and then gave to him.

Red's Poetry: Red reads a poem by T.S. Eliot and R.S. Green.

The Experts: Hap answers a viewer's question about inheritable traits by discussing his Russian background.

Explanations

 * A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday working animal.

Inside References

 * Bill removes the fry pan, the pantyhose and eggs full of pantyhose out of his pants.

Real-World References

 * At one point during the Word Game, Red unsuccessfully tries to get Buzz to say the word in the game by mentioning the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.
 * Red's poem spoofs "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.
 * Harold says he does not like Heavy Petting Zoo.
 * Near the end, when the Lodge Meeting is about to start, Red calls the Lodge members the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
 * Near the end, Red mentions the title character in the novel Black Beauty.
 * Near the end, Red calls Harold "Northern Dancer".

Famous People

 * Hap claims that his mother is the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, his grandfather (and Anastasia's father) is Tsar Nicholas II, and that Rasputin was a good friend of the family.
 * While in France, Anastasia supposedly had a fling with writer Ernest Hemingway.